A Created Universe
Written: Feb 23 '09
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Pros: Written in easily digestible chunks. Presents a unified world view.
Cons: Leaves unmentioned the Deluge.
The Bottom Line: Answers in detail the seeming contradictions between biblical creation accounts and science. Satisfies the curiosity of someone who believes the Bible but doesn't discount science.
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| topreviewerman's Full Review: Hugh Ross - Why the Universe Is the Way It Is |
Why the Universe Is the Way It Is is divided into two parts, the first covering science and the second covering religion. The chapters in each part are further subdivided into short sections of one or two pages each, and it ends with appendices, a brief index, and an associated web site—which isn't working but you can try this one: http://www.reasons.org/dr-hugh-ross.html . The material goes one step beyond Ben Stein's documentary Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed in exploring the why, not the how of an intelligently designed universe.
I have a degree in engineering and am comfortable reading long technical works if the material interests me, but this one is quite at the layman's level. (There are references in notes for anyone who really wants to get technical.) Each chapter starts with an automobile analogy where Dr Ross mentions a co-worker or someone by name, the type of car he or she drives, and the "why" of its design or function, relating that to the universe. He brings it down to human terms much like Forrest Gump's "Life is like a bowl of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get." While Forrest dealt with the What, Dr Ross deals with the Why, the universe being like an automobile.
It would be like me relating the coming "New Creation" to a radio show on automobiles I was listening to. The speaker said there were three reasons why people usually get a new car: Just needing a new style, a new look; Wasn't meeting their needs; and/or Cost of repairs overwhelming them. Then I relate that to the new universe God is going to create for his redeemed people. First of all, it's more God's style to have one with only good in it, no more of those pesky questions: If God is all powerful, why did he allow …? That's the philosophical issue. Next comes the scientific one. This old universe with its law of decay—second law of thermodynamics—just doesn't meet the needs of a people destined to live eternally. And thirdly, there's the scripture: (Heb. 1:10-12) "And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands: They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail." It just got to be too expensive to patch up that old garment, so he changes it. Expand those ideas to 218 pages, and you've got Dr Ross's book.
There are two questions in particular I had that Dr Ross answered well enough: isn't six days a little short for creation time? and what about the dinosaur bones? The Hebrew word for day can mean a twenty-four hour period, or just the daylight portion of it, or a part of that daylight time, or an indeterminately long period of time. Genesis was using this last definition. The first day, when God made light on the raw Earth referred to the opaque atmosphere becoming translucent, and the periodic "days" of creation go on from there. To build up a biomass able to sustain intelligent civilization required some of these "days" and a bit of recycling, as per (Psalm 104:24-25, 29-31) "O LORD, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches. So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts. … Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust. Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth. The glory of the LORD shall endure for ever: the LORD shall rejoice in his works." We have the Bible referring to both mass extinctions (see desslok's review of 2008, "The Day the Earth Stood Still"), and regeneration as in the Cambrian explosion Dr Ross mentions in "Why the Universe Is the Way It Is." This all over those long "days" to build up the biomass needed for civilized man.
Many details are gone over, from the mass of the universe to its rate of expansion to Earth's cozy little niche in it. In Chapter 4 It's a Jungle Out There Dr Ross explains there is only a narrow habitable zone in our galaxy where a solar system could support life, and the same could be said for an orbit within a solar system, or for that matter, a galactic place within a cluster of galaxies. The Earth is situated just right. Page 72) "While Earth's location is not geographically central to the solar system, galaxy, galaxy cluster, or galaxy supercluster, it deserves the description 'spectacularly favored for life.'" Old Church dogma that placed the Earth at the center of the universe may have had its geography wrong, but it was right in its concept.
Dr Ross goes about debunking the "primordial ooze" theory for the origin of life on Earth and supports a conclusion, (page 75f) "Something or Someone from beyond the physics and dimensions of the universe, who is not subject to them, placed life and humanity in the only location in the universe at the only time in cosmic history where and when such creatures could survive and thrive."
In Chapter 5 Why Such a Dark Universe? Dr Ross delves into an area I hadn't expected, why the Earth is situated away from distracting and obscuring light sources. (Page 79f) "Earth resides in a very dark place. In fact Earth's solar system resides in the darkest part of the Milky Way Galaxy's life-habitable zone. And the Milky Way resides in the darkest life-habitable region of its galaxy cluster, which occupies the darkest life-habitable region of its supercluster of galaxies." This spot for its darkness provides the ability for astronomers to study God's universe through their telescopes to discover its mysteries which testify of a Creator, an ability we wouldn't have so much if light washed out the sky.
In the second part the author gets into God's redemptive act, the Savior passing through the boundary of the grave to bring hope of a resurrection and a new creation under different and better physical laws. He interprets some of the symbols in the book of Revelation applying them to the new conditions in the new creation. I can't recall seeing any book that goes into as much detail, Christian authors either being hazy or writing on other subjects. It'll be better, that's for sure, and there may be other places to read about it that I haven't discovered, but "Why the Universe Is the Way It Is" will give you a run for your money.
Appendix E, Entrance to the New Creation, presents the good news of the plan of salvation, in four little sections: Repent, Believe, Commit, Speak Up. It's written in the same style as the rest of the book and is placed at the end as a natural continuation of the author's thought. It makes a fitting ending of the book and seems to be consistent with fundamentalist thought. He pegs Jesus of Nazareth as being "fully God and fully human." I would have liked to see him specifically mention baptism as it is part of the biblical formula for salvation, but he does say to "learn … what it means to follow him," so I suppose the reader can figure out the details himself.
All in all, it was a gratifying book to read, and one I intend to keep in my library. I heartily recommend it for the searcher or for the believer who wants to strengthen his belief. It does have a couple flaws that I penciled the corrections for in my copy: Per an altogether too common practice in academia, it uses some "nonsexist language" which I didn't see the need for, and which disturbs the flow of the text. (You can see my corrections if you care to in my review in the science section.) And secondly, he uses the popular though marginal NIV Bible for his quotes, not the reliable, easy to read King James Version which is the most suitable English translation, in my opinion, despite what some people think. (I've criticized the use of the NIV in over forty sermons I've heard, which you can read at http://www.bibles.n7nz.org/niv .) If you care to make the same corrections in your book—and some will—, I've included them here for your convenience:
p. 78 "… some have entertained angels unawares." (Heb. 13:2)
"… the end of the world." (Matt. 28:20)
p. 127 "… the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear." (Heb. 11:3)
p. 128 "… before the beginning" (Prov. 8:22; John 1:1-2; 1 Cor. 2:7; 2 Tim. 1:9)
p. 136 "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." (Gen. 1:1)
"moved" (Gen. 1:2)
p. 139 "… living creature"; "creepeth upon the earth" (Gen. 1:24-25); "beast of the earth"; "cattle" (Gen. 1:25)
p. 148 "… Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth," (Gen. 1:28)
"… we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, … Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it: thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God, which is full of water: thou preparest them corn, … Thou crownest the year with thy goodness; and thy paths drop fatness." (Psalm 65:4, 9, 11)
p. 149 "… he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness." (Acts 14:17)
p. 155 "But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee: Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee: and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee." (Job 12:7-8)
p. 158 "… groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now." (Rom. 8:22)
"… be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it:" (Gen. 1:28)
"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations," (Matt. 28:19)
p. 168 "… cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground;" (Gen. 3:17-19)
"… I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee." (Gen. 3:16)
"… appointed" (Jer. 33:25)
p. 169 "… sorrow" (Gen. 3:16,17)
p. 177 "… creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption" (Rom. 8:21)
p. 178 "Lay down now, put me in a surety with thee; who is he that will strike hands with me?" (Job 17:3)
: : : : : : :"My transgression is sealed up in a bag, and thou sewest up mine iniquity." (Job 14:17)
: : : : : : :"For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me." (Job 19:25-27)
p. 189 "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." (Eph. 6:12)
p. 191 "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you," (1 Pet. 1:3-4)
p. 194 "He hath made every thing beautiful in his time:" (Eccl. 3:11)
"… also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end." (Eccl. 3:11)
"… Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." (1 Cor. 2:9)
p. 195 "… rolled together as a scroll:" (Isa. 34:4)
"… pass away with a great noise," (2 Pet. 3:10)
"… melt with fervent heat" (2 Pet. 3:12)
p. 196 "… the former things are passed away. … I make all things new." (Rev. 21:4-5)
"… no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain:" (Rev. 21:4)
"… the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption" (Rom. 8:21)
"… the adoption," … "the redemption of our body." (Rom. 8:23)
p. 197 "… new heaven" (Rev. 21:1, 10)
p. 198 "… I make all things new." (Rev. 21:5)
p. 199 "Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? … Know ye not that we shall judge angels?" (1 Cor. 6:2-3)
p. 200 "… breadth, and length, and depth, and height;" (Eph. 3:18)
"… intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God," (Eph. 3:10)
p. 201 "… a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun: because though a man labour to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea farther; though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it." (Eccl. 8:17)
p. 204 "… our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;" (2 Cor. 4:17)
p. 205 "… light" and "but for a moment" (2 Cor. 4:17)
p. 206 "How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation;" (Heb. 2:3)
p. 217 "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." … "by" (John 14:6)
Recommended:
Yes
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topreviewerman
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Member: Earl Gosnell
Location: Eugene, OR
Reviews written: 83
Trusted by: 2 members
About Me:
BSEE, U. of Cincinnati. Ordained minister, United Congregation of Friends. Poet Laureate, Longfellow, Colorado.
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